Cookies
by CrashxxBurn
Summary: After the First is defeated, Buffy and the survivors go to L.A. to stay with Angel. Buffy is injured and gets a surprise when she returns from the hospital. Spike has returned from the afterlife as a ghost. What will happen?


Pairing: Buffy/Spike

Genre: A bit AU. Warren never shot Tara, Tara never died, Willow went evil because Buffy was shot and still killed Warren. Willow and Kennedy never got together.

A/N: If you want the NC-17 version of this story you'll have to go to the following website cuz the rules here I'm only allowed to post the PG-13 version of it.

http/ www. geocities. com/ smg41477/ BuffySpikeFanfiction. html

(sry bout the spaces, but it won't let me put it in properly. just ignore the spaces. also note that there's a colon after http and a double slash, not single. there's an underscore between the g and the 4, between Buffy and Spike, and between Spike and Fanfiction. really, really sry)

Hope I solved the whole 'Anya' dilemma. It should make sense now. Sry, I guess I kinda spaced when I was writing it. I'm writing so many things at the same time sometimes I get confused. Lol. Hope it's better now.

Chapter 1 - Injured:

"So what are we gonna do", Dawn asked. Buffy stared down at the gigantic pit that was once Sunnydale. "I don't know. But I think we should go to L.A. At least we'll have somewhere to stay", she replied. "Yeah, Angel can take us in for a while", Willow added. Willow and Tara clung to each other tightly. Robin was leaning heavily on Faith. Xander, Andrew, and Kennedy all stood off to the side. Buffy put her arm around her sister and led her back to the bus. The rest followed suit and Giles climbed into the driver's seat. Soon they were in L.A. and headed toward Angel Investigations.

When they parked the bus, they all limped tiredly into the lobby. Harmony was the first to spot them. "Oh my god. Buffy! What're you doing here? And what happened to you guys?" Buffy eyed her as if she were nuts. After a minute Harmony asked, "What?" "You work here?" "Well, yeah." Buffy shook her head in disbelief. But then she shouldn't be surprised. Things were always weird for her. That's when Angel and Cordelia walked into the room with Cordelia ranting about a client and Angel with a frown on his face. As he looked up he froze in his tracks and his mouth dropped open. All he could do was stare for a moment, then as sense returned he said, "Hi, I guess this means the world didn't end." He attempted a smile but failed miserably as he saw how injured everyone was.

Buffy had lost a lot of blood and was on the verge of fainting but she put on a brave front and said, "Yep! Apocalypse averted and Sunnydale… gone." "Gone", he asked. "Yeah, as in completely nonexistent thanks to the very large explosion that left a crater in the Earth." "I see your numbers are down and what you have left isn't looking too good", he looked pointedly at Robin. "I'll have a doctor look at that for you." "Thanks", Wood said. Then Angel asked the unexpected. "Where're Spike and Anya?" Buffy looked down at her feet as tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to think about it, let alone talk about it. She was so torn up inside. She couldn't believe that he was gone.

She'd realized after it had happened that she had been well on her way to loving him. Though she hadn't yet, she was sure if given the chance she would've. Now she'd never get the chance. Never know what they could've had. The silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Angel stepped forward and brought her into a hug. She didn't resist. Just buried her face against his chest. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I wish they were here. I can't stand to see you like this." He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back. He held her for several minutes until she sniffled and pulled back. She looked up at him and smiled. "So am I", she said sadly. "But I'm glad you're still here." He smiled back and brushed the hair that was sticking to her tear-stained cheeks behind her ear.

Then Willow spoke, "Since Sunnydale is nothing more than a big hole in the ground, we don't have anywhere to stay. We were wondering if we could stay with you until we could get settled." Angel dropped his hand to his side and moved his eyes to rest on the redhead. "Of course. Cordelia, will you show them the guest rooms?" Cordelia nodded and said, "Follow me." As Buffy turned to go, Angel touched her shoulder and she looked at him again. "Get some rest, then we can talk", he said and smiled warmly at her. He squeezed her should affectionately and she nodded.

As she moved to leave, pain seared through her and she fell to her knees. He quickly dropped down next to her. "Buffy, what's wrong?" She pressed a hand to her stomach and brought it away. It was covered with blood. The last of her strength left her and she collapsed; out cold. Angel yelled for a doctor. He held her hand and cupped her cheek. He desperately tried to stifle the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him. But they escaped anyway and were streaming down his face. This was his love; his precious slayer. His Buffy. She was dearer to him than anything and the thought of losing her caused him more pain than he could bear.

"Please, Buffy. Don't do this. Not again. Come back to me, Buffy. I love you." He kissed her forehead again and didn't let go of her hand until the paramedics arrived and put her on a stretcher. He told Cordelia to notify her friends as he got in the ambulance to accompany her to the hospital. He held her hand until they got there and it was necessary to let go. He was made to stay in the waiting room until further notification. Her friends arrived shortly after and he explained briefly what happened; unable to go into a lot of detail without breaking down. Willow sat next to him and held his hand to try and comfort him.

They sat waiting for what seemed like hours until a doctor approached them. He stopped in front of Angel. "She's going to be fine. Fortunately she's O Negative, meaning she can take any other type of blood and we were able to give her an emergency blood transfusion." Angel closed his eyes and thanked the god he wasn't supposed to believe in for that. "Can I see her now", he asked. The doctor nodded and indicated he should follow him. Angel hurriedly scrambled after him; eager to see his injured love. She was in an ICU room. All sorts of bags and machines were hooked up to her through IVs. The wound had been stitched and dressed. They pumped antibiotics into her system to avoid infection. She now lay asleep clad in the traditional hospital gown.

Upon entering the room, Angel felt he could start crying all over again. He knew she would be fine, but he hated seeing her with all those needles poking into her skin. At least her face looked peaceful. He hoped she was. He would hate it if she were having a nightmare and couldn't wake up because of the sedatives the doctor gave her for surgery. He pulled a chair up next to the bed and gently held her hand between his. It was slightly swollen from all of the fluids that were being pumped into her. He rubbed it gently with his thumbs and gazed at her sleeping form; silently hoping for her to wake up and tell him that everything was fine. As if on cue, she cracked open her eyelids but quickly shut them again as harsh light invaded her irises.

Her hand twitched and Angel smiled in relief. She squeezed his hand and opened her eyes slowly. He threw himself on her and wrapped her in a tight hug. When he pulled back, tears were in his eyes again. She smiled and lifted her hand to wipe one away. He kissed the back of her hand and whispered against it, "Buffy, I was so worried about you." She spoke her reply in a voice that was rough and strained. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I thought I was going to lose you again", he whispered. His voice was very pained and more tears of blood rolled down his cheeks.

She stroked his face and whispered soothing things to him. "Shhh… it's okay. I'm not gonna die. I'll be fine." He nodded his head and swallowed hard; trying not to cry. After a minute of comforting Angel, Buffy became too tired to stay awake anymore. Angel left and told the doctor that she'd been lucid when awake. They had her on so many painkillers and so much morphine, the doctor told Angel she was likely to be pretty loopy. Angel sat by her until he was made to leave. He came back as soon as they would open the door. When he got to the room she was awake and the nurse was changing and dressing the wound. Angel saw that the gash was long and had gone all the way through. He cringed when he saw blood and body fluid seeping through the stitches. This stuff normally didn't make him squeamish. He was a fucking vampire, for christ's sake! Blood was his thing. But this was Buffy. His Buffy. Even if she didn't still love him, he would always love her.

He stood back patiently as the doctors dressed her wound and she readjusted her gown. She looked up at him and smiled as their eyes met. "Hi, Angel." He came up to the bed and grasped her hand tightly. "Buffy." He kissed her forehead lightly. The nurse refilled her morphine drip and soon she wasn't making any sense. She was rambling nonsense such as, "Why is there a lizard on me? Hello, mister lizard. You're not going to bite me, are you? Cuz if you did, I'd have to stake your pretty purple tail. Hehehe." Angel just sat back and watched. He hated seeing her like this. At noon her friends came by to sit with her.

After a long nap she woke and it seemed that she was lucid again. She received a chorus of, "Hi, Buffy", from her sister, Xander, Willow, Tara, Kennedy, and Giles. She smiled lightly and replied, "Hi, guys". She looked around at their faces and a frown furrowed her brow. Someone was missing. She thought for a moment and then it clicked in her head. Spike… wasn't here. "Where's Spike?" Everybody exchanged a worried look. Her memory apparently had some holes in it.

Before someone could say something that would confuse her, Willow spoke up. "He'll be here later, why don't you get some sleep?" Buffy yawned and nodded. "Night, guys." As soon as she was out they all met in the hall. Willow started first. "This is bad! Buffy doesn't remember what happened. How are we gonna tell her?" "I don't know, but she must be hurt worse than we thought if her memory is suffering", Angel replied. "I'm sure it's just the meds makin' her all loopy. She should be fine when she's off them. Either that or she's gone into denial and doesn't want to believe that he's gone", Willow supplied. "Let's hope." The others silently agreed to wait it out and see what happened before freaking out.

Later that afternoon, Buffy was moved from ICU to a normal hospital room. Even though she was almost fully healed thanks to slayer healing abilities, the doctor insisted she stay over night for observation. If she checked out fine on the monitors and had no problems she would be released in the morning. That was good news at least. Angel could hardly wait until she was out and feeling better. He wanted to see her smiling again. He hated that she was unhappy and in pain. He had a feeling the injury was only a part of it. He could tell she wasn't just hurting physically. There was a load of psychological pain there as well. And he was pretty sure he knew what about.

He sighed to himself. He'd hate for her to be sad because Spike was gone. But it seemed that way. Hell, Angel was even a bit sad. The world sure had changed. Spike had certainly changed. A few years ago, Angel wouldn't have given a rat's ass if Spike got dusted. Now de did. Spike had actually played the hero part. He'd saved the world. Something Angel never thought he'd see, let alone be possible. Just proved what you could do when you had the will and put your mind to it.

He knew he should get his mind off such gloomy, broody things. But he couldn't help but feel sorry for Buffy. Because as much as he loved and loves her, he'd rather her be happy than be with her. Even if that meant her being with Spike. It had looked like she was happy. And now she was sad again. He wished he could somehow bring Spike back. Anything to make her happy. Everything went well that night. Her friends stayed with her until visiting hours were over. Even then, Angel snuck back in to sit with her. Come morning time there was nothing but a scar where the stab wound used to be. That meant she'd totally healed it in two days.

The doctors had never seen such a fast recovery to such an extensive injury. They were baffled and impressed. They were literally scratching their heads trying to figure out the mystery that is Buffy Summers. Angel just had to stand back and laugh. If only they knew. Thought the doctors wanted to study her to find out how she healed so fast, they couldn't keep her against her will, and she desperately wanted to leave. As was customary, they made her ride in a wheelchair to the entrance. Then Angel drove her back to the hotel. When she walked into the lobby everyone screamed, "Welcome back, Buffy!" Her friends stood in the middle holding a big sign bearing those exact words. She walked up to them and forced a smile. They took turns hugging her and then insisted she have some cake that they'd bought for her. She ate a small piece and forced her to socialize.

Almost everyone had asked her is she was alright, and by the time she made it around the room she swore if one person did, she'd rip their head off. Yet she still forced herself to look happy and smile. After about an hour of it all she just couldn't take it any more. She told Angel that she was going to head upstairs to get settled in a room. He nodded in understanding. At the top of the stairs she someone coming up behind her. She spun, ready to attack, just to find Faith with arms raised in mock surrender. She smiled and laughed. "Easy, B. Don't have a cow." Buffy calmed down and laughed at her foolishness. "Sorry, Faith. Just on guard right now, I guess." "That's understandable, B."

Buffy suddenly remembered Principal Wood being injured. "How's Robin? Is he alright?" "Yeah", Faith said, "he's Five by Five. In fact, he's so fine that he badgered me into going on a date with him tonight." They both laughed and Buffy said, "That's good for you. I hope you two are happy together. God knows someone deserves a little happiness around here." Suddenly Faith got a worried/frightened look on her face. "What's wrong", Buffy asked and touched her shoulder. "I'm just worried I'm gonna fuck this up. I've never been on a real date before. I've really cared for someone before. I've never had someone really care about me before. It was always use or get used and one-night stands. I don't know how to do the relationship thing", Faith said.

Tears were starting up in her eyes. She tried to hold them back but they came anyway. Buffy wrapped her up in a hug. "I'm just so scared", Faith whispered. "It's okay. Shhh… you'll do fine", Buffy murmured into the brunette's neck. This was the first time since Faith came back that they'd been close. This was the first time they'd embraced. It felt good to comfort each other. They were actually working at becoming close like sisters. It was much better than fighting one another. Buffy placed a chaste kiss on her neck and hugged her tighter. They stood that way for several minutes until Faith pulled back. She still had tears glimmering in her eyes, but now they were tears of happiness and they were accompanied by a high voltage smile. "Thanks, B. I love you, you know", Faith said and cupped Buffy's cheek in her hand. "I know, and I love you. You're like a sister to me", Buffy replied. Faith smiled even more.

Buffy kissed Faith's forehead and took her hand. "C'mon, let's get you ready for this date." Faith smiles as Buffy led her back to her room. At 6:00 Faith exited the room wearing a deep blue, ankle-length dress with a slit up the left side. It tied around the neck and showed modest cleavage and back. Her hair was twirled up and held in place with bobby pins, leaving a few strands to frame her face. She wore gray eyeliner and eye shadow to give her the smoky-eye look. She also wore a crimson lipstick that went nicely with her milky complexion. Robin stood at the foot of the staircase in a suit with cologne waiting for her. Their eyes met and they smiled. Buffy peeked around her door as Faith walked toward him. They linked arms and Robin escorted Faith out the front door. Buffy smiled and closed her door. When she turned around her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes grew wide, and she froze. Standing in front of her was Spike. The Spike that was supposed to be dead. Her mind raced a million miles per hour as she tried to figure out what was going on. She finally found her voice and whispered, "Spike?" "Buffy", Spike said softly with a nod to her.


End file.
